John Surman

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Born in Tavistock, Devon in 1944, composer/multi-instrumentalist John Surman is one of the key figures in a generation of European musicians who have crucially expanded the international horizons of jazz during the past thirty years or so. Long acknowledged as an improviser of world class, Surman has also composed a body of work which extends far beyond the normal range of the jazz repertoire. Already, by the late 60s, it was clear that Surman was a phenomenon. He started out as a teenager playing the music of fellow Devonian Mike Westbrook, and then amazed the London establishment with displays of extravagant instrumental proficiency combined with a passionate, rumbustious imagination.

As a soloist, Surman’s early career took shape in the melting pot that produced a number of fine British musicians during the 60s. As well as his association with Westbrook, there was varied experience with the blues of Alexis Korner, hard bop with Ronnie Scott’s octet, mainstream jazz with Humphrey Lyttleton, South African township influences with the Brotherhood of Breath and jazz-rock with John McLaughlin. During this period he forged lasting relationships with composer John Warren, pianist John Taylor and bassist Dave Holland, with whom he co-led an exciting trio featured on his first album for Deram John Surman.

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jazz, ecm, contemporary jazz, experimental, sax
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Top Albums

Top Tracks

1	At Dusk	94
2	Portrait Of A Romantic full track	90
3	Edges of Illusion	65
4	Druid's Circle	57
5	Not Love Perhaps full track	55
6	Stone Flower	39
7	Piperspool full track	37
8	Dark Corners	31
9	The Wizard's Song full track	27
10	Levitation full track	24
10	You Never Know full track	24
12	Moonless Midnight	21
12	Moonlighter full track	21
14	On Hubbard's Hill full track	19
14	Mimosa full track	19

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jhawks wrote:
11 days ago

Spellbinding!

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tontonfranck wrote:
last month

The wizard song. Franchement excellent!

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SirAlecHendrix wrote:
September 2008

John Surman—now connected to the group ➤ future of jaZz

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tergan wrote:
August 2008

rumbustious? now there's a word you don't see very often.

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Tomash_Serpant wrote:
July 2008

Listen to this artist http://www.last.fm/music/Katarina+Kovac Influenced by John Surman among others.

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dv5ife wrote:
June 2008

Just listening him for the first time. And the first track I've heard, Nestor Saga, is something completely unbelievable. Brilliant. Well, any word will be not good enough ;-)

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vanmartyn wrote:
May 2008

Portrait of a romantic .... no words

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Oessur wrote:
March 2008

The baroque-like part in Edges of Illusion starting on 6th minute is brilliant

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Patkiewicz wrote:
February 2008

Marcin Wasilewski group

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Patkiewicz wrote:
February 2008

Tomasz Stańko group.

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jkblackrose wrote:
January 2007

Edges Of Illusion is fantastic

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jmussuto wrote:
January 2007

o sisi estoy de acuerdo con david: es un gran musico y compositor.

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david-deadfish wrote:
November 2006

What a great musician an' composer

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